The city of Boston has reached an agreement in principle to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of a Black man who was shot to death by Boston police officers in 2016, according to a Monday filing.
Hope Coleman's son Terrence J. Coleman, 31, was struggling with schizophrenia one evening in October 2016 when she called 911, intending to try to get him into treatment. Instead, two arriving officers, who believed Terrence Coleman was armed with a knife and tried to stab an emergency medical technician, shot him.
His mother filed her lawsuit in 2018.
No details of the proposed settlement were disclosed in the filing, a court-ordered report to the judge presiding over the case. The parties said they will again update the court on March 8.
It comes more than two months after U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf referred the long-pending case to the court's mediation program, amid a motion by the plaintiffs for a default judgment and Judge Wolf's repeated scolding of the city for "slow walking" its discovery obligations in the case.
As the potential default judgment — which Judge Wolf had warned the city was a possibility — loomed over the case, the city's legal department brought in outside counsel, Nixon Peabody LLP's Brian Kelly, and hired a new e-discovery vendor.
During a six-hour hearing in December on the motion for default judgment, Judge Wolf pointed to the significant amount of money the city has spent on defending the case, in front of a courtroom packed with more than a dozen lawyers, and called the case "more messed up than any case I have had in 39 years."
The city, in addition to paying its own attorneys had also agreed to pay at least $500,000 to Coleman's attorneys as a sanction for discovery delays.
William Fick of Fick & Marx, who represents Hope Coleman, said he would be unable to comment until the settlement itself is filed with the court.
Kelly did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.
Coleman is represented by Amy Barsky, Daniel N. Marx and William W. Fick of Fick & Marx LLP and by Oren Sellstrom and Sophia L. Hall of Lawyers for Civil Rights.
The city and Police Commissioner Michael Cox are represented by Brian T. Kelly, Joshua C. Sharp and Brianna N. Portu of Nixon Peabody LLP, and by Adam N. Cederbaum and Adam D. Johnson of the Boston Law Department.
Former Police Commissioner William Evans is represented by George W. Vien and Pietro Conte of Donnelly Conroy & Gelhaar LLP.
The officers are represented by Leonard H. Kesten and Thomas R. Donohue of Brody Hardoon Perkins & Kesten LLP.
The case is Coleman v. City of Boston et al., case number 1:18-cv-10646, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
--Additional reporting by Chris Villani and Brian Dowling. Editing by Alex Hubbard.
Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Law360
|The Practice of Law
Access to Justice
Aerospace & Defense
Appellate
Asset Management
Banking
Bankruptcy
Benefits
California
Cannabis
Capital Markets
Class Action
Colorado
Commercial Contracts
Competition
Compliance
Connecticut
Construction
Consumer Protection
Corporate
Cybersecurity & Privacy
Delaware
Employment
Energy
Environmental
Fintech
Florida
Food & Beverage
Georgia
Government Contracts
Health
Hospitality
Illinois
Immigration
Insurance
ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ
International Arbitration
International Trade
Legal Ethics
Legal Industry
Life Sciences
Massachusetts
Media & Entertainment
Mergers & Acquisitions
Michigan
Native American
Law360 Pulse
|Business of Law
Law360 Authority
|Deep News & Analysis
Healthcare Authority
Deals & Corporate Governance Digital Health & Technology Other Policy & ComplianceGlobal
- Law360
- Law360 Pulse
- Law360 Employment Authority
- Law360 Tax Authority
- Law360 Insurance Authority
- Law360 Real Estate Authority
- Law360 Healthcare Authority
- Law360 Bankruptcy Authority
- Products
- Law360 In-Depth
- Law360 Podcasts
- Rankings
- Leaderboard Analytics
- Regional Powerhouses
- Law360's MVPs
- Women in Law Report
- Law360 400
- Diversity Snapshot
- Practice Groups of the Year
- Rising Stars
- Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar
- Sections
- Adv. Search & Platform Tools
- About all sections
- Browse all sections
- Banking
- Bankruptcy
- Class Action
- Competition
- Employment
- Energy
- Expert Analysis
- Insurance
- ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ
- Product Liability
- Securities
- Beta Tools
- Track docs
- Track attorneys
- Track judges
This article has been saved to your Briefcase
This article has been added to your Saved Articles
Boston Moves To Settle Suit Over 2016 Police Shooting
By Julie Manganis | February 26, 2024, 8:01 PM EST · Listen to article